Have you ever attempted to do something only to find that the end result fell way short of your expectations? If you are human this has probably happened to you more times than you would like. There are occasions when you are content with the outcome, but there are many times when you feel as if you have failed and that the whole exercise was futile. I can’t remember who said it, but there is an old quote that says something to the affect of,

“Failures are the paving slabs on which we walk on the way to success.”

            These kinds of quotes are helpful when we are looking for inspiration, but they sound quite hollow when we are discouraged. Nonetheless they do hold a truth that if we don’t throw in the towel, we will one day be glad we didn’t.

Marriage is a perfect example of this. Too many couples have conceded defeat because they felt their relationship was falling short of their expectations, and as a result they never got to look back at their marriage and think “I am glad I didn’t throw in the towel when everything in me wanted to.” The path of marriage is not an easy one, not only do we walk on paving slabs of failing and falling short, we also have to make many sacrifices along the way. Almost every couple is willing to do this at first, but as time passes their enthusiasm grows weak and they feel emotionally fatigued.

After listening to the clips of love songs in Melissa’s monologue (accessible on our website), I remembered a song from the 80’s by Billy Ocean, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. If you’ve never heard that song you may not connect the title with a love song, but a love song it is. Essentially the message is “I’ll do anything and make any sacrifice for our relationship”. He sings things like “I’ll never let nothing stand in my way”, “That’s a price I’m willing to pay”, “I’ll climb any mountain”, and “I’m gonna buy me a one-way ticket”.

How many of us thought that way when we first got married? Probably all of us. How many of us still feel that way about our marriage? I won’t speculate on that. The truth is, if we want to be able to look back at our marriage one day and think, “I’m glad I didn’t throw in the towel”, we have to stick with it through the shortcomings and the failures.

A couple of years ago Angela and I saw an old fellow tinkering around in his yard, she said to me, “that’s what your going to be like.” Strangely I didn’t bulk at that, something inside of me connected with that image. I saw something beautiful about growing old and slowing down together. One day I will be that doddery old fellow who takes three hours to do a ten-minute job. One day Angela and I will need each other’s help just to do the most basic of tasks. One day we will both look back at a marriage full of failing and falling short and we will think to ourselves, “I’m so glad I didn’t throw in the towel along the way, I’m grateful I only bought a one-way ticket”.

As I watch Ricot shuffle into the office after yet another night of erratic sleep, I am reminded of the birth of our first daughter. Like Isabelle, our Sara did not get the internal memo laying out the protocol regarding her parent’s nighttime routine. I remember wondering how something so small could turn our world so completely upside down. How could something so helpless make two grown adults feel so…well…helpless? Eventually things settled down of course, but only just in time for the whole thing to repeat itself at the birth of our second daughter Gemma. I think this is how God intended babies to be- game changers, paradigm shifters, and shakers of everything that can be shaken. Jesus was certainly that for Mary and Joseph, as he turned their world upside down everything in their lives shook. But his influence was to go far beyond the lives of his ‘parents’; this baby was to literally turn the world on its head.

Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, Satan has enjoyed a jolly old time messing around with everything and everyone. The havoc he has created has infiltrated the lives of every person in every nation. Nevertheless his world too was to be turned upside down by the birth of a baby. It is hard to imagine as we examine the Christmas cards we receive each year that the birth of Jesus was anything but a peaceful affair. Scenes of snow covered houses and horse drawn sleighs mask the enormity of this event. While it is true as the angels announced to the shepherds that Jesus came to bring peace to all men, it is also true that he came to do battle. As 1 John 3:8 points out, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” I haven’t seen this image on any Christmas card!

The arrival of Jesus was explosive by any standard; mankind has been feeling the shockwaves from this event for the last two millennia. Never before or since has the arrival of a baby changed the lives of so many. Since that starry night in Bethlehem until now, Jesus has been turning the world upside down. Jesus was a game changer for Satan and he knew it. He tried everything in his power to stop this baby from disturbing his world, but to no avail. Like a new parent, Satan was beside himself as he realized that he was the helpless one, not the baby.

I can’t begin to explain the depth of change that took place in my innermost parts when I first laid eyes on my girls. In that instant healing happened, hope awakened, priorities changed, and I realized that I now lived for someone else.

This is the wisdom of our God, to confound the wise with something simple, to call weakness- strength, to say you can’t live unless you die, to hide things from the clever only to reveal them to children, to choose those who are poor in the eyes of this world to display the riches of faith, to defeat his foes with the softly sung praise on the lips of infants, to start a kingdom with a teenage girl, a panicky carpenter, and a vulnerable babe.

Christmas is a great time of year to lay down all our resistances toward God (yes even Christians resist him) and admit we are helpless. Jesus is no longer a baby, but he is still rocking worlds. Let him shift your life into a new paradigm this Christmas!

Civil War of the Soul

           A week or so ago I saw a commentary on the evening news about the mistreatment of wild animals being kept as pets. Apparently there are several thousand of such animals incarcerated in North America. The newscasters showed a lion in a small chain link cage with a concrete floor being thrown a morsel of meat by its owner/captor/handler. As I watched, I thought what a shame this is, this animal was created to be running wild in the Savannas of Africa and here it is confined to a bare 20×12 foot jail cell.

I wondered what the attraction is for the people who keep these animals. Why would anyone want to live with an animal that does not see you as a companion but as food? The next morning I pondered this again, my mind turned to the Gospels and the words of Jesus, and how I sometimes treat those the way these animals were being treated. I contemplated the times I have kept the things I have read in God’s word captive in my head. How I have tamed them and rationalized them, how I have kept a fence between them and me, and how I have neglected them and even mistreated them all the while still calling myself a Christ follower.

But this captive lifestyle is not what the words of Jesus were created for. They were not meant to be our pets, something to boost our ego. They were not intended to be caged in what we consider to be a sensible and sufficient boundary. We are not supposed to handle them by tossing them a token of chicken twice a day. The words of Jesus should not be constrained by any man; they were set loose by the lips of Jesus to fulfill a preordained destiny. The words of Jesus are not meant to be in our control, they are supposed to have free range to control us. They are meant to be at large, yet close by and imminent, keeping us alert and on our toes. They are designed to seek us out and find us in our secret hiding places. They are meant to pursue us, overpower us, and consume us.

The problem is, I don’t want the words of Jesus to overpower me and consume me, I want to overpower and consume them. I don’t want them to unearth me from the security and comfort of my sinful den. In fact when they do find me, (and they always do) I fight back by throwing a net over them to restrain them, taking them captive once more.

This lack of yielding always leads to conflict. We think that by keeping the words of Jesus under our control, we can remain at peace with them and cohabit with them. But this is never the case; eventually there will be conflict within, a clash over who will be master and who will dominate whom. This is the kind of civil war of the soul that many of us live with, we find ourselves fighting against the one we should be fighting with and for. This is the real warfare within; where the battle for control becomes the battle for the mind, which ultimately becomes the battle for our soul.

Spiritual warfare can be an out there thing, but almost always it is an in us thing, a result of us taking captive the very thing that was meant to captivate us. A result of trying to make a pet out of the thing that was intended to consume us.

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Henry Longfellow, (a Polish born American poet from the 19^th century) said; “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man’s life, sorrow and suffering enough, to disarm all hostility.” What he meant by this is that if we knew the reasons why a person was unlovely to us, our heart would probably fill with sympathy and those feelings of hostility would turn to love under the weight of this new understanding.

Interestingly, another man from the 19^th century J. R. Miller (a popular Christian author of his time) made a similar observation, only this time it was about those we say we love. He said; “Distance lends enchantment to many lives, just as a far-away rugged landscape may seem charmingly picturesque. We cannot see their faults and blemishes. We are not required to endure their uncongenial or disagreeable qualities.” Millers point is, it is easy to love someone that we don’t know and who has never been close enough to do us any harm.

Both of these men made this same observation: “Distance permits us to have feelings toward others that are justified by a blissful lack of knowledge and not founded on the truth.’

When it comes to Jesus’ love for us we know that it is founded on the truth. Even though he is close enough to see the fullness of our faults and blemishes, he chooses to love us anyway. This is the kind of love that we receive when we are connected to the Vine spoken of in John chapter 15. Jesus knows the sorrow and suffering that has shaped us, and because of this knowledge, his heart has melted toward us. This love from the Vine is such that it is tender enough to accept us the way we are, and potent enough to not leave us there. It is the kind of love that reads the secret history of an enemy and does what it takes to make them a friend.

Being connected to the Vine not only permits us to be recipients of the love of Jesus, it also enables us to be givers of this same love. It is not easy to love others when we know the truth about them because our feelings get in the way. But this is exactly what we are called to do. The source of our love for others must be the Vine and not our emotions. Emotional love is fragile and easily uprooted. It has a shallow grip on the facts. It will let go all too easily when the winds of frustration and disappointment blow. However the roots of the love from the Vine are not shallow; they are buried deep in Jesus’ own painful sorrow and suffering. They have a firm grip on the truth.

If we are to love others the way that Jesus loves us, we must stay connected to the Vine. Only then will we be able to love others beyond our natural ability with a love that is founded on truth, even if that truth is unlovely.

“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” Ephesians 4:2

Many years ago when I was a child, (I can say that now I’m 50!) I had a Hot Wheels toy that I played with a lot. It was an oval track with roller coaster features around which those neat little Hot Wheels cars would race. Midway around this track was a device called a ‘Booster’, which served the purpose of propelling the car and giving it enough momentum to get around the track another time. As long as you reset the booster after each firing, the car would go around the track endlessly. If you wanted to make the track longer you could, but you had to add another booster if the cars were to keep going.

Most people have found that ‘six and a half days stretch’ between church services too long to go without fellowship, therefore they have chosen to add a ‘booster’ time to the middle of their week to propel them through to next Sunday. We call them Life Groups. This is not a sign of spiritual weakness; it is a sign that they have recognized the way God has created us, made for company, not self-sufficient but others-sufficient.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says; “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friends can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no-one to help him up!”

We get a better return from our faith when we invest it in others, the more we share, the more we have to share. When we boost others, we are boosted ourselves. As I have listened to stories shared by others in my Life group, I have found myself being challenged, moved, encouraged, and most of all, ‘boosted’, especially when they have shared how God has come into their story and met them there.

Sunday morning worship is a time when we come to worship God and centre our lives on the truths of His Word. There is some opportunity to share our lives with others at this time, but it is not the best environment to get into the nitty gritty of our lives with people we have grown to trust. There is something about being in a home with a small group of like-minded people over coffee and snacks, which says to a person’s soul, “This is a safe place.”

From a global and historical viewpoint, these groups (known as- Small groups, Home groups, Cell groups, Mini church, Growth groups, etc) have played a vital role in the spiritual growth of countless people. For those groups with an outreach focus, they have also been instrumental in bringing many to Christ. It’s not hard to see why these groups have such an impact, where else in a person’s busy life do they have the chance to spend an hour or two in the company of fellow believers who’s sole purpose is to help them live out their faith.

Our Life Groups are structured in a way that is confidential, honest, and caring; providing a support group of brothers and sisters in Christ that have your best interest in mind. Life in the 21^st Century can leave a serious mark on our souls, we can find ourselves carrying around a trunk full of wounds and hurts that can put a real drag on our wheels. It is comforting to know that there is a group of people who are praying for us, supporting us, and are even willing to help us unload that trunk.

If you recognize that you need a mid week boost, or if you would like to be a booster in someone else’s week, please talk to one of the Life group leaders posted at the Information Centre. Or you can let me know and I will connect you to the right track.

It has been a number of years since I have had the pleasure of spending some leisure time in the Rocky Mountains. We who live in Calgary are blessed to be so close to one of the worlds most beautiful and majestic spectacles, but often the busyness of life leaves us with few opportunities to enter their hallows. Summertime is when most of us venture into God’s creation; it tends to be less hostile and more accessible this time of year. Some would say that snow covered mountains have their own awe and for sure they do, but much of the intricacies of creation are hidden under the throws of an icy blanket during the winter months. Summertime is different; this is when God’s creation is laid out on display for our pleasure. We often hear the term ‘eye candy’ these days to portray things that are pleasing to the eye, and everything that God creates is just that- eye candy. Of course this term is subjective, one mans candy is another mans cod liver oil, but God’s creation in my opinion is the ultimate eye candy. The Bible says in Psalm 19:1“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” and in Genesis 1:1 that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” As I drink in the magnificence of the mountains and wildlife this summer, I certainly see a clear reflection of his glory in it all. It appears to me that he made it the way it is purely for our pleasure, so that as we uncover and examine the complexities of it, we are filled with wonder.

Another thing that I became aware of as we drove past mountain peak after mountain peak is just how small we are in the larger scheme of things and how big God is. Even though God’s creation is so vast and everything he made declares his glory, it is still too small to contain him. He truly is above all. But as immense as God’s creation is, he calls us, (the ones who feel so small) the pinnacle of his creation. The cosmos has shown in spite of efforts to prove otherwise that there is no other planet or star that has received the same degree of attention from God. Did God really create all of this for us? I think so. A friend of mine says he feels closest to God when he is close to water, (referring to lakes and rivers). Personally I have felt closer to God at other times but I know what he means, being close to God’s glory in creation enables us to freely experience his presence unhindered by the stuff that came into being by the hand of man.

On Saturday September 17^th our Men’s ministry is organizing a hike at Johnston Canyon near Banff. This is a 5.8km (4-5 hour) hike that is listed as easy by those who know about these things. Of course anyone is free to do as little or as much as they want of the trail depending on your ability, and even though the Men’s ministry is heading up this hike, it is open to everyone, women, men, children, families, young or old, it would be great to see you all. This might be a good time also to invite a friend or co-worker, a chance to spend some time with someone you would like to get to know better. More details will be available soon, so watch the information centre for an update in the next few weeks.